Bachmann in the Senate is an Ugly Thought

It’s obscene really; that is, to imagine Michele Bachmann as a United States Senator. What’s the nation coming to?
by Charlie Leck

It is absolutely no fun to rise in the morning, spread out the newspaper and then read something over one’s first spoonful of Cheerios that completely turns ones stomach. Yuk!

Headline: State Republicans want Bachman v. Klobuchar in 2012
Oh my! Those of you who aren’t from Minnesota probably won’t get the same woozy feeling in your stomach that we’re getting up here. It’s bad enough having the crazy, floozy Michele Bachman in the House of Representative. Can you imagine her in the distinguished, deliberative body of the United States Senate?

Our current senior U.S. Senator will have to run for reelection in November 2012. She’s done a fantastic job and makes most of Minnesota proud. If she wants it, she’ll be the single and hands-down choice of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party up here. On first blush it would seem that she would be unbeatable.

Klobuchar has done a fantastic job. She understands the process and she knows how to negotiate and make progress with fellow Senators on both sides of the aisle. She's a reasonable and rational person. Though you'd certainly have to call her a progressive, she is by no means a wild-eyed leftist. She has an opportunity to establish herself as one of the really great U.S. Senators in America. She's so effective in debates and discussions of issues, that one would normally say there is no way Bachmann could dream of beating her.

Yet, we have to remind ourselves about the insane and obscene decision handed down by the United States Supreme Court back in January (in a 5-4 split decision) in the case of Citizens United v the Federal Election Commission. No longer is it just a matter of the people deciding elections. The conservative controlled court has opened the process up to corporations, too; but I’ve written about that enough here. Now, however, a decision that may have seemed very esoteric at first glance is showing its very ugly, real and applicable side in America’s democratic election process.

With American corporations throwing their heavyweight money around, anything could happen.

What I’m saying here is that the crazy politician from the 6^th Congressional District may now expand her power throughout the state thanks to the financial clout a number of corporations will wield here – including a giant like the Target Corporation – and they will likely fill her campaign coffers to over-flowing. She couldn’t spend all the money she raised in this past election for Congress. She has a two million dollar surplus with which to start a run for the Senate.

The Pandora’s Box that the Supreme Court opened is about to bite us all. Corporations will have more power in the 2012 Presidential election than will the people of the land. If you didn't get that, go back and read the sentence again. A lot of future elections will be decided by U.S. corporations.

And, if you think this is significant up here in my state of Minnesota, you all ought to start looking at your own states. If you’ve got the idea you might like to support a more progressive candidate, just bear in mind that the corporations in your area might be lining up against you and spending hundreds of millions on the campaign advertising of conservative opponents.

It’s a strange country we’re living in and the impossibilities of last year are now very much frightening possibilities thanks to our U.S. Supreme Court. After thinking about Michele Bachmann as our U.S. Senator, I feel like someone kicked me square in the testicles. Oh, my!

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